


Prinz Leiche

by corpseductor



Category: Sound Horizon (Band)
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-11-30
Updated: 2018-11-30
Packaged: 2019-09-02 12:25:15
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,944
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16786915
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/corpseductor/pseuds/corpseductor
Summary: März thinks it's great fun to meet royalty in the woods.





	Prinz Leiche

"Mutti?"

  
März took an unsteady step forward. Normally he had no trouble navigating the forest so long as he could hear his mother's footsteps, but he had tarried too long, and she was out of earshot. He hadn't the faintest idea where he was - nothing seemed familiar without her, and there were no other familiar sounds or landmarks he could touch. As he journeyed on, the rustling of the trees quieted, and the ground underfoot felt grassier. He reasoned he had found a clearing, and was considering the clearings he had been in before when he heard something jingle faintly in the stillness. Following it was a voice.

  
"Hello, boy," said the voice. It belonged to a man, that much März could tell. The man had a deep voice, but one which still retained some youthful clarity; it was dark and warm, März thought, a voice which should belong to some serious prince from a faraway land, as in his storybooks. "Are you lost? Why don't you sit down beside me for a moment?" From where the man was sitting, März could hear him pat something stony.

  
"Yes, sir, I'm lost," said März. He trotted dutifully to the source of the princely voice and settled down on the grass. "Do you know where I am?"

  
The man chuckled softly, though März didn't know what was funny. "You're in a churchyard, young man, though not one which has seen use for some years."

  
"Oh, really? I didn't know there was a churchyard in the woods!"

  
There was a short pause. "There are a great many things in the woods, boy, which you should not concern yourself with just yet." The man shifted and jingled again. Was he wearing jewelry? Perhaps the character of his voice had lent März the correct impression.

  
"Are you a prince?"

  
Now he began to laugh in earnest, though once again it was at a joke März never caught. "Oh, you are a flattering little thing, aren't you?" He sighed, and suddenly it was as though a weight had descended upon the churchyard, choking the air with sadness. "If I am a prince, then it is truly a wretched and pitiable kingdom I rule."

  
März didn't understand what was troubling the man so, but if his mother had taught him anything, surely she had taught him how to heal a heavy heart. He sprang up from the patch of grass upon which he had settled. "I know what will help!"

  
"Do you, now?" Though he was obviously amused by März's antics, the man's voice still hung heavy in the air.

  
"I'll tell you a fairy tale! When I'm upset, Mutti always tells me a fairy tale. And since you're a prince, we can pretend the story is about you!"

  
"I think I would like that very much," he replied warmly. "If you would, please make it a happy tale. I think my heart has had enough regret."

  
März put his hands to his cheeks and thought hard. Eventually he settled on a tale which he had heard many times before. "Once upon a time, there was a girl who lived at her stepmother's house, and she always had to do the chores. But she wanted to go to the ball and dance. But because her stepmother was so mean, she couldn't go anywhere."

  
"Now, that's not a very happy tale," said the man.

  
"I'm not done yet! Well, she tried to make a dress and run away, but her stepmother caught her and burned it to ashes, and then took her stepsisters to the ball and left her all alone at home. And she went in the garden and cried, and then a fairy came out! And the fairy saw she was sad, so she made the girl a brand new dress, and fancy glass shoes, and a pretty carriage!"

  
"Ah! Now you've got me intrigued - was it the fairy's magic, then, that took her to the ball?"

  
"Yes! But the fairy said she had to run home by midnight, or everything would go away! Poof!" März demonstrated with an exaggerated hand motion. "And then she went to the ball, and she saw you!"

  
"Oh, she saw me?"

  
"Yes! Because you're the prince!"

  
The man laughed a little. "How silly of me to forget! Well, what did we do?"

  
"You danced and danced and danced, and then you fell in love! And the girl wanted to stay and dance until the sun came up! But the bells started ringing, and it was midnight already!"

  
"Oh dear!"

  
"She ran down the stairs as fast as she could, so you wouldn't see that her pretty dress was actually rags. And you didn't catch her, but you found her glass shoe that she left behind. So the next morning you went all around the kingdom asking girls to try it on."

  
"Sounds tedious."

  
"You had to do it! You were in love, so you had to find her. You went to the last house all the way at the edge by the woods, and you asked to have the lady's daughters try on the shoe. But the girl was in trouble and got locked in her room, so only her stepsisters came to try it on, and it didn't fit."

  
He gave an affected sigh. "Well, my goodness, now I'm very distressed! I haven't found my princess, and I've searched the whole kingdom!"

  
"Wait! Because...um...the fairy let her out of her room! And you knew it was her right away, and the shoe even fit her! So you got married after all!"

  
The man paused for a bit to consider the end of the tale. "I suppose that's very nice, isn't it? Against all odds, I was reunited with my love."

  
"Yeah! Do you feel better?"

  
"Surely I do," said the man, though he didn't sound much better than he had been at the start of the story.

  
März frowned. "You still sound sad..."

  
"Don't trouble yourself too much," he replied. "It is too heavy to burden a little boy with."

  
"I can help! Mutti says I'm very smart."

  
"Oh, I don't doubt it one bit," said the man, "and neither do I doubt your mutti is very smart, for mothers always are so clever, and little boys do quite well to listen to them."

  
März nodded. "Mutti is smart and nice! She can fix people with medicine and she looks after me when I fall down and hurt my knee."

  
"It sounds like she loves you very much."

  
"You're sad again..."

  
The man shifted a little, and his prince's jewelry jingled again. "I have always felt that perhaps someone loved me long ago, but there is no one who loves me now. It must have been my imagination..."

  
"I bet your mutti loves you!"

  
For a good while, the man was perfectly silent and still. März couldn't even hear him breathe. "Yes," he said at length, "I am sure she does, wherever she is. That must be what I felt."

  
"My mutti will like you too," März insisted. "If you help me home, we can all have some soup!"

  
"You are ever the gracious host, young man," said the man. März heard him hop down from his perch, and felt a thin hand gently pat the top of his head. "I don't think soup will do me much good, but I will help you home nonetheless. It's quite dark, after all, and I should hate for you to meet something frightening."

  
"Are there scary things in the woods?"

  
"I should say so - corpses wandering around who do not have the good sense to stay in their graves, for one!"

  
März giggled. "Oh, don't be silly! There's no such thing!"

  
"My, my, you're sharp." The man clucked his tongue. "I can't pull the wool over your eyes, can I? Now, let's have you home to your dear mutti."

* * *

  
It had been an hour since she'd noticed März gone from behind her, and two since she had exhausted the waning light searching for him amongst the trees. Therese did not often venture into the woods at such an hour, but it was imperative she find her son before the night chill set in. She had only stopped at home to find herself a proper lantern, but so agitated she was that nothing in the house seemed in its proper place, and she had made quite the disarray of her shelves searching for it. Just as she felt she might cry, there was a familiar little knock at the door.

  
"Oh, my angel! I'm coming, I'm coming!" She nearly tripped over herself flying to the door, and in opening it nearly fell. "My baby! My sweet boy! I was so worried!"

  
"It's okay, Mutti!"

  
She dropped to her knees and held her son close, tears now streaming openly down her face. "Oh, you poor thing! However did you find your way back home?"

  
"The prince helped me!"

  
Therese's relief vanished, and in its place, a chill rushed down her spine. She looked up and searched behind März. "What prince, sweetheart?"

  
"The one who showed me home! He's still here. I can hear all his jewelry!"

  
Hands trembling, she picked up the candle which sat at the table beside her front door, and held it up against the inky darkness of the forest. The light settled on a figure just a few feet from März. She froze.

  
It was a man's figure - impossibly thin, clad in black and rich blood-red, and with a face paler than death. The apparition's hair was dark and disheveled, and his eyes piercing, though they were the color of fresh milk. Round his bony arms were iron chains, which swung gently and clinked together. Seeing Therese properly, his stony expression did not change, but his eyes came to meet hers in full. For some time they stood in the eerie stillness, staring at each other, with März blissful in his ignorance. Finally Therese was released from her fearful bindings, and she drew back the candle quickly and slammed the door.

  
"You didn't thank the prince," said März.

  
She didn't wish to frighten him, though she herself still felt sickness boiling in her stomach. "Oh, don't you worry," said Therese. "I thanked him in a secret way, which only mothers and princes know." She lifted März in her arms. "I think you've had quite a long day, haven't you? It's about time Prince von Ludowing got his forty winks, I should say."

  
"But mutti!"

  
"No buts! I shall tuck you in, and you'll fall asleep in two shakes of a duck's whisker."

  
März sighed forcefully. She carried him to the cot and gingerly placed him there. He yawned and rubbed his weary eyes, and she helped him nestle into the blankets. Just as she had predicted, he was asleep in a few short minutes. She sat near him for a moment and stroked his hair.

  
That terrible vision plagued her mind still, even as she watched März sleep sweetly. Such a twisted being, she thought, may have been almost normal on its own; spirits, after all, were common enough in this wood, and many of those unfortunates she healed would complain of them. And, of course, it couldn't have been anything else, for it wandered as a mockery of man, neither living nor dead. Frightening, yes, but no more so than a hungry wolf baying in the distance.

  
What disturbed her was the question which lingered in her mind, and which she could not put to rest - how could it come to be that such a spirit wore her son's face?


End file.
